Court in Fiji approves U.S. warrant to seize Russian-owned mega-yacht

Fiji's Excessive Courtroom on Tuesday dominated that a huge Russian-owned yacht can be seized by U.S. authorities.

American and Fijian officers declare the Cayman Islands-flagged Amadea is the property of Suleiman Kerimov, an oligarch who constructed his fortune on gold mining. Kerimov was sanctioned in March by the United States, United Kingdom and European Union in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. 

But an legal professional who represents Millemarin Investments, the corporate the $325 million ship is registered to, mentioned it's not owned by Kerimov. As an alternative, he argued in courtroom that company paperwork traces the ship's ownership to Eduard Khudainatov, a former executive at Russia's state-owned Rosneft oil firm who has not been sanctioned. 

Kerimov and Khudainatov couldn't be reached for comment. The company intends to attraction Tuesday's resolution.

The Amadea berthed in Fiji on April 13, according to native stories and the maritime analytics website Marine Site visitors. Quickly after, a federal judge permitted a warrant for the ship to be seized and on April 19, Fiji's high prosecutor moved to prevent the ship from leaving.

The Department of Justice couldn't instantly be reached for remark. 

On April 4, the agency announced that Spanish authorities had assisted it in seizing one other Russian yacht, the $90 million Tango, which was owned by Viktor Vekselberg, the proprietor of the Russian conglomerate Renova Group.

Laws handed by the Home of Representatives on April 27 would allow the U.S. to sell the yacht and different properties value greater than $2 million seized from Russian oligarchs in an effort to fund the Ukrainian battle effort. President Joe Biden supports the invoice, which has yet to cross the Senate.

"We're going to seize their yachts, their luxury properties and other ill-begotten good points," Biden said on April 28 at the White Home.

Graham Kates is an investigative reporter masking prison justice, privateness points and information security for CBS Information Digital. Contact Graham at KatesG@cbsnews.com or grahamkates@protonmail.com